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An evaluation of the drop‐disc technique for measurements of herbage production in ryegrass for silage
Author(s) -
DOUGLAS J. T.,
CRAWFORD C. E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1994.tb01998.x
Subject(s) - dry matter , silage , drop (telecommunication) , agronomy , zoology , mathematics , biology , chemistry , environmental science , telecommunications , computer science
The drop‐disc method of estimating herbage dry‐matter production was evaluated for ryegrass from growth commencement to the silage stage; the latter typically corresponded to a maximum dry matter (DM) mass of almost 7 t ha −1 . A close linear relationship ( r 2 = 0·829) was found between disc settlement height and DM mass up to 4–5 t ha −1 for the period when growth was mainly vegetative rather than reproductive. During the latter stage, the presence of stems and the occurrence of lodging had a detrimental effect on the quality of disc calibration data. The technique was demonstrably useful in experiments as a cheap, rapid and trouble‐free method for monitoring the initiation of grass production and rate of production during the vegetative stage.